


Guns & Roses.

by SS98



Category: James Bond (Craig movies), James Bond (Movies), One Direction (Band)
Genre: 007, ? - Freeform, Agent Harry, Agent Liam, Agent Louis, Agent Niall, Agent Zayn, Bottom Louis, Bottom Niall, Cute Louis, Dark Harry, Dom Harry, Dom Liam, Dom Zayn, James Bond - Freeform, M/M, Moscow, OFC - Freeform, Russian Zayn, Sassy Louis, Secret Agent Harry, Sub Louis, Sub Niall, Tech Whizz Niall, Top Harry, Top Liam, Top Zayn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-23
Updated: 2015-12-20
Packaged: 2018-05-03 02:38:47
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5273378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SS98/pseuds/SS98
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>I stop when I'm done.</i>
</p><p>A James Bond inspired AU where Harry is Agent Styles, Louis is director of MI6's lab, Niall is a tech genius, Liam is Agent Payne and Zayn is Russian.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**_[A/N: I SEE YOU DON'T LOOK AT ME JUST SHH *deep breath* I don't know what this is and I probably never will but let's just go with the flow. - S xx]_ **

_I don't stop when I'm tired. I stop when I'm done. - 007_

***NARRATOR'S POV***

Louis makes a very wide turn in the form of a 'C' when he notices _Agent Styles_ headed his way in the hallway. He grits his teeth and moves out of his way, pretending to be entirely busy by the clipboard he's supposed to be delivering to headquarters.

Unfortunately for him, not all can go as planned.

He squeaks when his elbow is caught by a firm hand and his entire body is yanked two meters into a closet that probably should have been locked. Someone's getting dismissed today. 

Working for MI6 has not been easy on Louis' back and he does _appreciate_ this idiot hauling him into a bloody black closet. Before he can lash out though, a pair of lips land squarely on his to shut him up in a way that makes him whimper and melt.

"Hi, love." Sultry-voiced, best-agent-in-the-world Harry Styles has his arm around Louis' slender waist and is staring into his eyes so fiercely Louis just might go into cardiac arrest.

Damn those emerald eyes that sparkle in the moonlight. 

"Hello, Agent Styles." Louis replies, coy and indignant as ever. 

"Come on, little bird." Harry's voice drags along the raw surface of Louis' skin like silk, a smirk threatening to appear. "Give us a kiss."

"I hate you." Louis turns his head away when Harry leans in again with those plump lips of _sin_ and Louis can't let this happen. "I trust your mission was a success?"

"Except my mission with you, little bird." Harry brushes the delicate framework of Louis' jawline, that raw need to have the boy once again making his blood boil.

Harry and Louis have been in an unspoken relationship for two years. They're not boyfriends and they're not dating. Louis is Harry's little bird and Harry is his boo. Boo, because it annoys the absolute Hell out of Harry everytime he says it.

"Yes, yes." Louis bats Harry's hands away and gets a sour look in response when his clipboard whacks Harry's knuckles. _Please_ , as if that was enough to hurt those knuckles. "I believe AK wants to see you now."

"Yeah. I'll go to her later." Harry holds Louis' loose strands of perfect brown, perfectly soft hair at the sides of his face. "You're my top priority."

"You mean since you saw me in the passage?" Louis' challenging look is what Harry fell for in the first place, and here it is again making him chuckle.

"Maybe when I touched down from Scotland." Harry ropes his arms, stretching the fabric of his tailored suit, around Louis' shoulders. "Maybe when I first heard that I could come back. Maybe before I even got up in the air before the mission. You're my little bird and I missed you."

Louis grins like a peacock who is not easily flattered but who has been blown away. "You're my dork too."

Harry pressed a feather light kiss on Louis' forehead and hummed. He was utterly content with standing like this for a long while more, just breathing in the aroma of cinnamon and apples from Louis' skin. That fantasy is ripped from him when someone - the culprit responsible for leaving the closet open - yanks the door back and reveals their embracing form.

They could get into serious trouble for this, both of them know that. Louis can get fired and Harry suspended for a few weeks - he's still the best and they won't risk losing him. 

"A-Agent Styles-"

"Get out." He snaps, cold and curtly. 

The intern who works under Louis and serves as his personal assistant - not for much longer if she left the closet unlocked - backs out and slams the door shut.

"Don't be rude to my people." Louis is snatching up the clipboard from a nearby shelf and walking out of the closet.

Harry follows, walking brusquely at Louis' side with his hands in his pockets while people move out of his way. "I'm coming over tonight."

"No, you're not." Louis stops at a receptionist desk and drops a list in front of her. "I'm working late."

"I can get you out of it." Harry's forever willing to pull strings if it gave Louis and he a night away together.

"I _want_ to work late." Louis slides through busy bodies, smiling at those who greet him and keeping Harry on his toes.

"You work for me." Harry states simply. "I'm putting you off tonight."

Louis laughs, an adorable crinkly-eyed laugh that fades into a giggle. They've come to a stop outside headquarters where they're both due for different reasons. A grand black door, sealed to regular folk and employees unless you were in the identification system.

"I don't work for you, boo." Louis smiles at Harry's frustrated groan, pressing his hand down on the scanner. "I work for AK who, by the way, is waiting for you."

Harry doesn't waste a second getting in beside Louis before those jet black doors can slide closed, cast into a dark room with UV lights above their heads. "I'll pop in at the lab then."

"You want to?" Louis accepts the badge from a security personnel, Harry not needing one because his face was easily recognisable.

"Yeah." Harry follows closely behind Louis. "The lab is fun."

"You hate the lab."

"I hate the lab." Sighing, Harry combs his fingers through his effortless curls, soft as cotton and warm as chocolate. "Give me your key and I'll meet you there whenever you're done."

"Aren't you tired?" Louis asks, now serious as he hugs the clipboard with one hand and brushes Harry's cheek with the other. "You've been gone for eighteen days."

"Hardly." Harry scoffs arrogantly, not half as convincing as he should be with Louis' unimpressed glare as a response.

"Here." Louis fishes out his apartment keys from his navy lab coat and drops it in Harry's open palm. "If I come home to you naked with champagne again, I'm going to dump an ice bucket on your man parts."

Harry swallows thickly, well aware that his little bird is not joking as he'd like him to be. Over two hundred kills in under a decade of service, but Louis always got the upper hand on him.

"Deal." Harry closes his fist around the black stallion key chain. "What time can I expect you?"

"After eight most probably." Louis drums his fingertips along the metal clipboard's edges. "I've got a briefing right now for some new gadgets and things. Probably will have to have a few prototypes before I leave tonight."

Nodding along, Harry watches three armed people go by. Everyone in the building is armed, except those working in the laboratories - like Louis - and the admin. Even Harry got to walk around with a custom black 9mm in his waistband, being one of the top agents in MI6 history he doesn't get searched at the entrance and exit points.

"I'll see you at eight then." Harry rocks back on his ridiculous shoes and slinks away.

"Hey, Styles!" Louis called out after his retreating back.

Harry turns around with an intrigued look. He waits for Louis to speak again, steps now moving backwards and at a slower pace as more people get between them.

"Welcome back!" Louis smiles more brilliantly than the ultraviolet lighting and Harry finds himself mirroring the action.

Harry develops that shit-eating grin he always gets right before he does something risky and plain out dump. "Thank you, baby!"

Naturally, every second head turns to attention either to glare at their misconduct or laugh because they already knew there's no fixing that misconduct. It might have been envy because it wasn't _fair_ that fresh-faced and a non-field-worker nabbed the best of the best despite no actual verbal comment. It might be plain disregard or disliking, but Harry's charming grin with two dimples and perfect teeth made both of them forget about the drama for two whole seconds.

"Agent Styles." Harry spun around when he heard his name from another source, sobering up from the riveting time he had with Louis. 

He cleared his throat and soaked into a phase of indifference, expression cleared and general tilted smile present. "AK."

The woman with a mole on her upper lip but spent over thirty years in the field working herself to the bone - literally - trying to protect England, has everyone's respect. "Come with me. You have a mission."

Now this, makes Harry's smile droop and for him to frown. "I just got back, AK. You assured me-"

"This is different." She cuts him off, starting to walk again and without instruction he follows. "Agent Styles, I'm sure you're aware of Project Alpha."

He walks with a demeanour of high authority beside his 'boss', getting nods and ignoring them from other colleagues. "Thirty two agents undercover in Moscow."

"Yes, well-" AK holds her office door open and seals it with a code once they're inside. "-we've been terribly compromised."

Harry allows her to elaborate all on her own, seating himself in one of the two lime green sofa chairs - hideous things. She throws towards him a silver file with a sticker seal and Top Secret stamp, them a black indicator stating that only those of an even higher pay-grade could open it.

"Project Alpha was meant to infiltrate the very heart of Russia, plant a seed with our name on it. It was going to _guarantee_ the loyalty of the biggest and baddest European black market circuit."

AK stood at her window looking mournfully out the window while Harry cracked open the file, skimming over finer details. " _Underground_. We don't mess with these kinds of people, AK. I was against this entire operation from the get-go."

"And we should have listened to you, Styles, but there's nothing we can do other than get our own back." His higher ranking officer said. "They've got thirty-two of our finest agents hostage, threatening the Queen if we want them back."

Harry listens carefully as this is usually where he comes in, with or without his consent. "What did the Prime Minister say?"

Another sigh. 

"AK?" He stands up, slowly making his way around her desk towards her. "He doesn't know about Project Alpha, does he?"

"No." Just as AK is about to go on diplomatically explaining why the royal family and parliament knew nothing about one of MI6's most devious plots, Harry slams the folder down and pinches the bridge of his nose. "Agent Styles, we need you to go in."

"I won't do anything not ordered by the Queen." He paces to the other side of the room, voice working itself down to a gruff monotone. "You know this, AK."

"You don't have a choice in this." She turns around, glare set on him. "Protect your reputation or protect your country. It's the same thing this time."

"If I decline?"

"It's been passed down to you _directly_ from the man in charge. You cannot say no, Agent Styles."

"Well tell him to fuck himself!" Harry's anger got the better of him and he raised his volume drastically, eyes narrowing to slits. "Tell him to go out into the world and fight the way we do. Tell him that for me, AK. I'm not accepting this mission."

AK got a little frantic when she saw him entering his own code into her control panel to leave. Composing herself, she picks up the rejected folder that's bulging at the edges, and takes it over to him. 

"Look at this." She pressed it to his arm. "Thirty-two agents with families need your help."

The moment she opened her mouth, she knew it would be a difficult task convincing him to take the action they needed. Looking into those bold green eyes with every bit of hope she has for Project Alpha, she throws her dice.

"Get them back and you can _resign_ if you want to." AK tells him, his biggest dream coming true. 

Harry's been wanting more than just a vacation for two years now but he silenced the hope because he'd never take a holiday if Louis wasn't with him to enjoy it too. He screws his jaw tightly rigid and accepts the folder stubbornly, taking it with him when he storms out of her office.

  
* * * * *  


Louis arrived home at an hour past eight in the night, exhausted and in need of that one pair of arms he'd like to be exhausted in. 

His front door is unlocked and he locks it after getting inside, the silence welcoming him as he sighs and drops the key into a bowl. Toeing off his shoes at the door, he pads in his socks along his traditional route to the barren kitchen for a glass of water. 

"Don't just stand there." Louis said after swallowing. "You're not the best agent in the world with me."

Harry's heavy exhale followed him to the sink where he draped himself over Louis and kissed his sweet smelling neck. "I hate MI6. I hate the Queen."

"You're drunk." Louis wrinkles his nose at the potent smell of alcohol on Harry. "Why?"

"Got a new mission today." Harry is on his tail, barefoot and shirtless, when Louis goes towards his bedroom. 

Freezing in the middle of the hallway, Louis turns around slowly. "What?" 

"Confidential." Harry spoke clearly. "They won't let me turn it down."

"I- um...-" Louis chews his lip, looking around him nervously. "I took time off."

Harry's all-encompassing groan makes both of them feel uniquely miserable together. Louis' never taken time off to be with him because they never had a cross-over in their schedules and now he's sacrificing the one in a million chance they have.

"Hey." Louis grabs Harry's face and looks up earnestly. "It's alright. We'll do it another time."

"Little bird." Harry's hands overlap around Louis' dainty wrists, burrowing into such awe-worthy blue eyes. "I don't want to go on this mission."

"I know." Louis offers his lover a space in the warmth of his neck when they hug. "You've hardly recovered from Scotland."

They wander into Louis' bedroom together, the lights dimmed to complete darkness without the original energy to initiate anything like planned. It's pitiful and something Louis looked forward to when he left the laboratory.

"Stop that." Louis whines when they're lying in bed, Harry blowing loud raspberries into his bare tummy. 

"Gonna be the last time I get to do it for a while." Harry longingly kisses Louis' skin around the belly button. "I'm going to make it last, little bird."

With sad eyes, Louis pulled Harry up by his hair to hover on all fours above him. "Just come back to me. Do whatever you have to and come right back, Styles."

Harry's lips meet the tip of Louis' nose and then his enchanting lips, slowly pulling them apart and slipping his tongue past the barriers. "I always think of you, little bird. You're my talisman."

He's on his back and Louis' pinned his hands above his head with their fingers locked, grinding down on Harry's lap to elicit so many pleasured moans from the man. With a loud growl to depict his yearning, Harry picks himself up on his elbows when Louis pulls away.

"Still drunk, boo?" Louis has an arm around Harry's neck, their chests aligned and hearts rabbiting.

Harry smirks, deadly missions for the day forgotten as he tosses Louis onto his back and kisses the beautiful unmarred planes of his skin. His teeth sink into, tongue laps over and lips suckle around every spot he wants to mark selfishly, gulping down Louis' little noises hungrily. 

He makes love to Louis slowly, the latter's nails leaving violent red lines across Harry's back as he's thrusted into maddeningly slow. His head falls off the edge of the bed and it hangs there, suspended just like the rest of him while Harry violates him. 

Louis' selfish too. He's missed Harry without ever admitting it and now he has to let him go again. It's so frustrating and he sees red everytime he thinks about it.

"On me." Harry murmurs against his lips, so attuned to his lover's mind and body. "Focus on me, little bird."

That's a great solution because soon Louis is trembling and his thighs quivering, thoughts going blank as Harry pounds into him. He gets harder, driving in deep and brutally treating his insides in his perfect rhythm. Once they've both come, Harry into Louis and Louis over their fronts, Harry won't let Louis leave the bed.

"Don't." Harry tempts him with a warm kiss on his temple. "Stay with me."

Louis wraps himself around Harry like a baby koala just to enlighten him on what he's asking for. "I'll stay always."

After a moment of silence, Harry remembers something. "I made supper."

Unable to fight a fit of giggles, Louis peppers the side of Harry's face with kisses. "I'm famished."

"It's just spaghetti and a new sauce I learnt about in Scotland." Harry sits up, a mighty masterpiece in the moonlight splitting through the sealed curtains.

Louis rests in his kingdom of pillows, watching Harry's naked form move around the bedroom to collect his briefs and pull them on. He goes into the bathroom next for a wet cloth, returning with a sniff and wipes Louis' chest carefully.

"Come, little bird." Harry extends his hand. "Let's eat."

They sit at Louis' kitchen island with the pot Harry used to cook the divine smelling spaghetti between them, using two forks to eat straight from it. Louis rested his feet on Harry's lap and ate more than he normally would after skipping lunch and surviving on toast for supper these past few days.

"Have you been to your place since you got back?" Louis asks, blocking his mouth as he chewed.

Harry shakes his head, jabbing more of the pasta. "No. Nick probably left it in a fuckin' mess."

Louis' internal groan doesn't end in such an internal way and Harry chortles upon hearing it. "Oh shut up. You know I despise the man."

"I knew that when you shoved ice down his pants." Harry chews, mischievous smile being reborn as he steps between Louis' legs. "You were so jealous that day."

"I was not going to let him get his hopes up." Louis rolls his eyes, gasping when he's lifted and pressed against the pillar, Harry's shirt on his body lifting to his waist from his thighs. 

"My jealous little bird." Harry's lips slide across Louis' neck, nipping at the strong pulse and bending his smooth knees over his hips. "Ready for me? I'm not nearly done with you tonight, little bird."

Louis nods vigorously and mewls from a deep point in his throat when Harry sheaths himself inside him again, very little lube from a forgotten bottle in a cabinet. They make love against the pillar and because that's not enough on the floor by the TV then one last time in the shower because Louis got down on his knees without being asked. 

"Come with me on this mission." When they're cuddled up in Louis' vast bed seeking warmth from each other, Harry asks into the late hour.

"No thanks, boo." Louis smiles, tucking himself in under Harry's chin. "The field isn't for me."

"I always need a team, Lou. You could part of it."

"We've never done that before." Louis traces his index finger over Harry's scar from a year ago. "Except this isn't a romantic getaway."

"I know." Harry kisses his head. "I still might need you very much, little bird."

"To be your booty call?" 

"No." Harry pinches his bum and makes him squirm, delight shining in his eyes. "Yes but not always."

Louis' little resilient huff likens him to a kitten. "Big bad Agent Styles needs me to accompany him."

"Yes he does." Harry pulls the covers over them. "He always will."

**_[A/N: I dunno.......this story might go on hiatus with me if I don't finish it in time. For now however: thoughts? - S xx]_ **


	2. Chapter 2

**_[A/N: This whole book is in Narrator's POV so I won't be highlighting it anymore. There was a great response to this novel. It's a bit crazy lol never would I have ever thought that any of my works would do this well. Thank you all so, so much. - S xx]_ **

_We cease to be ourselves._

"Harry." Louis laid himself over the man sleeping peacefully in his bed, lips at his ear so as to be subtle. "Hey, boo?"

Harry slept like a rock when he knew he was safe. It's one of his traits that always surprised Louis whenever he remembered it. Harry could go from sleeping in his own bed, dead to the world, and anywhere else completely alert. Madness.

"Haz." Louis threw a leg over the man's side and curled it over his hips, peppering kisses where they belonged. "You have to wake up."

"Hmm." Harry grabbed onto Louis' shin with one hand and turned onto his side, his back squeezing in between Louis' narrower chest. 

"Good morning." Louis giggles, knowing exactly where to target when he brushes his ticklish fingertips over Harry's neckline.

The man stirs again, a tiny jolt to convey his dissatisfaction. Louis found it amusing and was also excited by the prospect of waking Harry up in the best possible way.

He warned him of his intentions with a sneaky little nibble on his ear lobe, his palm sliding down the front to glaze over Harry's abs and clear his throat softly. Harry showed no reaction but Louis knows this particular secret agent very well. He perseveres until Harry tilts his hips upward so Louis' hand can brush his groin.

Louis doesn't even need to use more pressure than the heel of his palm to get Harry to _drowsily_ roll onto his back. The boy grins and crawls over on all fours to hover above his lover, lips never lifting off the planes of skin exposed to him. Harry's expression is so peaceful, so relaxed as he breathes deeply through his flared nostrils. His fingers did tighten a little bit on Louis' fleshy hips.

"Hey." Louis whispers, low and seductive to fit the soft atmosphere of the quiet morning. "Hey there, boo."

Harry's pulse raced like wild horses under Louis' fingertips when Louis harmlessly wrapped his hands around his neck. Louis lowered his mouth from Harry's jaw to his clavicle, making gentle suckles on the hard skin as he went.

He worked his way down to past Harry's belly button where it was tough from muscle and his hip bones were prominent from under his skin. Louis spread his jaws and sunk his teeth into a little bit of skin. Harry's body was completely bare and Louis let him indiscreetly grab his hair.

"Awake yet?" Louis uncovered Harry's c*ck from under the comforter, wrapping his hand around it. 

"Not yet." Harry fake grumbled, voice scratchy and rough from a long sleep. 

Giggling, Louis pumped his closed fist up and down the limp length. It was fattening up quickly and the progress made Louis' inner self very pleased, his cheshire cat grin coming into phase when Harry kissed him after he united their lips.

Harry moved one hand to the back of Louis' head when he rolled them over suddenly, gently laying the boy's head down on the pillow with more energetic gyrating between Louis' thighs. He becomes more desperate when his fingers slither in between Louis' and pin their wrists above their heads. He starts sucking on the freckled skin of Louis' throat as he grinds down filthily.

"Good morning, little bird." Harry's cracking voice resounds in Louis' ear as he feels them heat up between their thighs. 

"H-Hi." Louis curved his spine upward and settled down more comfortably amongst the sheets. "We have work in an hour."

"Hmm." Harry nips at the tip of his nose and his chin. "Better hurry up then, huh?"

"Y-Yeah." Louis holds onto Harry's lovehandles and gets his knees kicked apart before Harry is reaching down between them. "Th-That was fast."

Harry smirks and shuts him up with a kiss to paralyse and conquer. "You have that undeniable effect on me, little bird."

They make love in the dull morning light with Louis always protected under the cover of Harry's broad frame. Louis hardly ever got to be on top but he never complained. He closed his eyes and curled his insides, savouring the crazed sensation that flowed through his body as Harry fucked him like he never got to before, never would again.

Their bodies slid together and fitted against one another's like they were carved from each other. Harry grunted and moaned as he fisted the pillow Louis' head lay on, his hips slamming painfully into Louis' pelvic bone with a satisfied groan each time. His little bird made him feel like he was on top of the world, held onto him like he was worth every bit of hardship.

Harry seared Louis' insides with come when he came too early for both their records, Louis crying out his lover's name as he soon followed. They sagged together and Harry caught his breath first, never stopping his petting motion on Louis' waist until he did.

"My little bird." He pulled out gingerly but went no further than that. "Fucking Hell, baby."

Louis beamed tiredly as he blinked lazily at the ceiling. "Don't flatter me for nothing, Agent Styles."

"Flattering you is why I'm put on this Earth." Harry pulls to the side when Louis rolls his eyes and gets off the bed with one of the sheets around him.

Watching the younger male's body with his hungry eyes, Harry links his fingers behind his head and lies back against the pillows. Louis goes into the bathroom but leaves the door open which is all the invitation Harry needs to get up and follow.

  
* * * * *  


"Doctor T." Louis' assistant comes after him as soon as he enters the lab with his coat on.

"Yes, Carrie?" He buttons the first three black tabs and takes his clipboard of today's tasks from her.

"Headquarters called for you." She clicks her pen nervously. "Do you think it's about the new prototype?"

"No, love." He laughs and grabs a set of noise cancelling headphones off a steel table before passing the bomb testers. "Go check on that for me and when I get back I'd like a full report."

"Yes Sir." She smiles and salutes him before taking a U-turn on her walk. 

Louis sighs as he reads the sheet of instruction that's come from headquarters, highlighting nothing but the procedure and code he should use for when accessing the black door this time. He cuts his inspection of the interns working for him short and gets to the elevator, headphones now around his neck.

"Hold the door!" Someone calls from a short distance away, making Louis scoff at the identity of its owner.

"The incredible Agent Styles should be able to crawl up the elevator shaft or something." Louis teases as the doors slide closed without looking to the side where Harry got in.

Harry's fingers push his hair back as he smirks around his gum chewing, circling the O of his mouth with his thumb and forefinger. "Haven't done that in a few months, Dr. T."

Louis presses the button indicating headquarters on the panel and enters the code he's memorised into the trackpad that pops up. "You should look into some of the training activities for new agents. They're....invogorating."

"Invigorating, little bird?" Harry chuckles. "I've come past that stage. Ten years now."

It always made Louis a little sad to think about Harry's time at MI6. He's been involved in the nasty business of secret agents and double-identities for a decade. No family, no connections outside his work. Louis only came to MI6 for half that time and it's because a personal request with his name on it came to his dormitory door.

"I know." Louis saw that they were almost on the right floor and made a sneaky quest to quickly peck Harry's cheek before exiting through the doors as they slid open.

Harry stands there frozen for a minute, triggered by the only thing that can possibly create it. Louis. He smiles to himself as he steps out in the scent trail of lavender and vanilla that Louis left behind, meeting him silently at the black door that was just pulling back. 

Their meeting is held in a blackened theatre, the only one of its kind, that is always used for the briefing of new missions. Harry's been appointed head of the task force and he's selected everyone who will be on his team, Louis included.

Niall Horan, tech whizz, has taken a seat right at the front and Louis finds himself next to him. Liam Payne sat two seats away from Niall and Harry lessened that gap by taking up residence beside him.

"Gentlemen." AK stands in front of a fuzzy grey screen with folders in her hand to be passed out, her black suit fitted to her figure. "We're here for the recovery of Project Alpha. Does anyone in the room not know what that is?"

The question is a formality because everyone who is of the correct pay-grade knows what Project Alpha is. Harry keeps his eyes trained on the screen as images start to spread out across it, close to thirty photographs with the faces of men and women who gave their lives to serving their country.

"This-" AK hands Niall the stack of folders and everyone ends up with one each. "-is your mission for the next few months. The Russians have broken their promise and are holding thirty agents hostage in an unknown location."

Louis looks up from the pages and printed reports to the faces of young agents who don't know what they're in for. He's seen agents go down one by one without fear in the field, taken by surprise. The ones who were taken and held always suffered the most.

"You will be there to track them down and bring them back." AK has the photographs removed and a single one of an attractive male brought up. "This is Zayn Malik, your Russian correspondent."

"How do we know we can trust him at all?" Harry pipes up, unbuttoning his suit jacket. "The Russians just broke their truce with us."

"Zayn is MI6 first. He transferred there after service as long as yours, Agent Styles." AK replies, turning back to the screen when he nods. "If you come up with anything, he will guide you. He's going to keep you under the radar there."

Everyone nods, each one attentive and hearing every word there is. Louis crosses his legs as the rest of their briefing his said out loud, Niall staring straight ahead without blinking. They each have their strengths when it comes to listening, and Harry's is simply mentally documenting everything in summaries.

"We're done here." AK finally claps her hands together once and the room brightens. "Pack your bags. You're leaving in three hours."

"Crazy." Niall shakes his head, shoving his paperwork into his bag and standing up with Louis. "Absolute madness."

"What is?" Louis smiles politely, straightening his coat out as it fell to his thighs. 

"This mission." Niall specifies with vague hand gestures, straightening his glasses on the bridge of his nose. "How will we survive in Russian if we don't even speak Russian?"

Louis happens to catch Harry's eye over Niall's shoulder as the latter is chatting with Liam. "My mozhem delit' komnatu, i ya nauchu vas."

"What?" Niall's eyes go wide with awe and respect.

"We can be room-mates." Louis lightly punches Niall's arm in a compadre kind of way. "I'll teach you."

Niall seems okay with the idea and walks out with Louis after the boy gives Harry one little smile to last them a few more hours. "We get room-mates?"

"Yeah." Louis replies, chewing on his pen cap. "We won't be moving around after the tech lab gets a location."

"Which is-" Niall points his thumbs at himself. "-me so I will catch you later."

Louis' laughs follows Niall out of headquarters. "Sure, Horan."

His day is filled with duties in the lab as there are new pieces of equipment that need his approval, and refining of older ones for the new mission. Louis spends hours in the 'basement' where unused weapons are kept, calling two interns with a list of what to polish and do testing on before bringing down the two field agents.

"Well, well." Harry walks out of the elevator with his hands in his black suit pockets and an impressed smirk. "I never thought I'd be allowed down here."

"I believe there are two of you." Louis turns on his heel after shaking Liam's hand and ignoring Harry's. "I will show you thirteen items. Five weapons and the rest are bugs of sorts. You can make two swaps and one additional request."

"The additional request." Liam looks away when Louis types in his personal password into the silver walk-in vault's keypad. "Does that include personalised stuff?"

"Yes." Louis smiles over his shoulder, sealing the vault door behind them. "I can design something new or modify something old."

Louis goes to the table laden with what he specified would be to his interns. Harry is impressed with everything, as he always is when it comes to Louis even in the work place. He remains silent but alert as he either watches his little bird or the glistening objects of violent art before him.

"This is my favourite." Louis looks like a smitten child when it comes to candy as he brings out a _tiny_ piece of metal from a black leather case. "It's going to be replicated and sewn into one article of clothing each."

"What does it do, li- Dr. T?" Harry asks, his fondness struggling not to overflow as he observes the pride in Louis' eyes.

"It basically hacks into every technological device around you when activated." Louis explains, slipping it back into the case. "This will come in handy when you're around very important people."

"Can it be picked up by anything?" Liam asks him.

"No." Louis clears his throat and moves around the table. "It's made of a metal that only MI6 possesses as it's a product of our own. It can't be sensed by any piece of equipment if we don't want it to be."

After their evaluation, Louis records any changes and requests they have before ushering them out the door. He gets to work on the alterations while packing away what's finalised into the right kind of styrofoam briefcases to get going.

"Dr. T!" One of Louis' interns come rushing over with a flushed face and sniffle from the recovery of the flu. "Headquarters needs you."

Louis looks at his watch and sees that he has less than twenty minutes from their three hour wait left. He thanks the intern and calls Carrie over with his bluetooth device to control the transportation of everything that's packed. He's on his way up as soon as the elevator arrives with Niall in it, lugging behind him three suitcases and his laptop case. Louis knows that there are no clothes in any of those bags.

"Let's go!" He shouts to his only other friend here with an eager wave in his direction. 

"Yeah, yeah. I'm comin'." Louis sheds his coat and ruffles his own hair to upset it from its sad state. 

He jogs over to the elevator and gets in with Niall, pouting at all the black bags around them. Niall shrugs and they ride in silence down to below ground level while Louis checks his phone and feeds on the excitement brewing in his gut.

Never having been on a mission of any kind before, Louis doesn't understand why he's not nervous or afraid to be out there where some people never get back from. Maybe it's the reassurance that Harry will be there and that happens to be the only other person who he will trust with his life.

"Ready for this?" Louis asks Niall as he rocks back on the heels of his Vans with his fingers looped through his jeans belt loops.

"I've been in the field twelve times." Niall scratches at his throat harmlessly. "I've never been _ready_ a single time."

Louis draws in a large nervous breath after that, exhaling just as a bell goes off and they're allowed to deboard the elevator. He helps Niall with the luggage he's carrying and they enter everyone's favourite part of MI6.

The garage contained every brand of car created in the outside world for over sixty years, storing the newest and most aged underground. Louis had his team of engineers along with himself design some of the most elite and sleek cars to ever drive on these roads, and he sees that they'll be taking one of those now.

"We're taking the Hybrid." Harry is the one to step around AK and Liam to greet them with a straight face. 

"The Hybrid?" Louis steps to the side and looks expectantly at AK. "I haven't finished working on that."

Louis had over two teams of the worlds best engineers working directly for him but he's the best and everything went through him. He wasn't happy with the Hybrid's inability to switch modes from a transparent windscreen to a computerised one yet. The Hybrid was otherwise their best invention yet, his baby from all his works.

"I'm afraid we have no choice, Dr. T." AK sighs regretfully. "None of the other MI6 cars are out of repairs yet or not in the field."

"It's also only programmed to work with my voice." Louis adds, Harry's smug grin not yet going away. 

"An entire three and a half hour flight to Moscow should give you enough time to reprogramme it then." AK speaks to him respectfully but in her authoritative tone that alerts him no more arguments will be tolerated. "Get in and get going."

Louis tries to be professional about it but he's already hating field work enough to nearly throw Niall's stuff in the trunk and break all of it.

  
* * * * *  


Upon coming on board, Louis went straight to the MI6 cargo segment of the private jet to get to work reprogramming the Hybrid. It's colour changed from black to navy blue when he touched the bonnet, just as predicted. The car picked up environments even when the engine was switched off, and he being the creator made it more sensitive to him.

"Knock knock." Someone tapped on the cargo department's steel door with their knuckle.

Louis looked up and leaned back against the Hybrid's closed driver door with his legs splayed out in front of him. "Come on in, Harry."

Harry made his way over, minus his suit jacket from earlier, with two champagne glasses and an unopened bottle of the golden liquid itself. He seats himself down next to Louis and welcomes the boy's head on his shoulder.

"Rough day?" Harry fills their glasses up and hands Louis one. 

"You should know all about bad days." Louis slipped under Harry's arm perfectly, curling his legs up on the man's lap because they were alone. 

"AK was a little rude, I'll admit." Harry took a sip of champagne when Louis downed half the glass. "She also has deadlines worse than any of ours."

"Yeah." Louis puffed up his cheeks and kicked off his shoes. "Who packed my stuff if I didn't get a chance to?"

"I did." Harry took a large gulp of his drink before Louis took it from him to finish. "I still have that key you gave me, little bird."

Laughing into Harry's shoulder, his teeth latch onto the man's jacket just because he's hoping that the alcohol has made him a little tipsy already. Louis gets hugged close as they both hear nothing more of intruding people coming closer from any other cabin.

"So do you promise no scandalous affairs on this mission?" Louis lifts his head and looks Harry in the eye with a raised brow.

A heavy bout of laughter follows from his suitor. "Whatever or whoever may be source of information about my scandalous affairs, is wrong."

Louis laughs behind his refilled champagne flute, crossing his legs. "Seriously though, Harry."

"Little bird." Harry shuts him down regarding any doubts he may have. "I've never slept with anyone besides you since our first meeting."

The smile that becomes prominent Louis' face makes him into a little pixie boy whose chock-a-block on colourful candy, not a highly qualified engineer and technician. "Glad to hear it, Styles."

"Aha." Harry accepts a sip or two from Louis' offering. "So you're okay now, little bird?"

"Yeah." Louis sobers for a moment to not resent what AK said earlier and be oh so grateful for a secret lover who is badass but also humble. 

"That's good." Harry suddenly gets to his feet and Louis glares at him when it risks his balance. "I've got a lovely other awaiting me in the bedroom for-"

Louis throws his pen at him and sits back against the Hybrid's closed driver's door as it turns from navy to emerald green. He groans loudly at the choice of colour when Harry sits back down, effortlessly managing to not scrape his polished dress shoes. 

"How long have I been here?" Louis asks the air, giving up the alcohol intake for now. 

"Two hours." Harry replies, corking the champagne bottle again, turning his head to be closer to Louis'. "Would you like to do something to pass the remaining time?"

Louis pulls his face a little nearer with a purposeful wink. His lips part and dry up when Harry's hot breath fans over it. Their noses brush and Louis smiles a little secretively, like they're passing codes to one another without using words.

"You know we can't." Louis whispers, breathless just by being in a corner with someone who has such an effect on him.

"Which is-" Harry fits himself between the Hybrid's front bonnet and the wall, easily dodging any chance of them being seen. "-exactly why we should, little bird."

Louis tries not to be hopelessly flattered by Harry's attempt at seduction coupled with sweetness. He nonetheless finds himself safely tucked away in the crook between his best creation and a solid steel wall that's part of another grand MI6 production.

"If we get caught-" Louis breathlessly says through the tedious process of having his pants stripped. "-I'm blamin' you."

Harry's chuckle gets branded like black and silky ink on Louis' neck, his cold hands slipping under elasticated cotton to grope his boy. "Shut it and get on my c*ck, little bird."

"Aren't you a charmer." Louis giggles and uses Harry's shoulders for support to position himself. "You're supposed to be nice to me, you know."

"I'm always-" Harry bites his lip and groans when Louis is fully seated on his lap. "Fuck. I'm always good to you, little bird."

"Your c*ck may be but you certainly aren't."

  
* * * * *  


"I suggest you get a move on, Dr. T." Harry indecently pinches Louis' bum when no one's looking, satisfied to grin at the squeaky moan the boy emits. "We're going to be late for the meeting with our correspondent."

"Agent Styles, it won't be my fault if we're late." Louis bites back, slinging a strap of his bag over his shoulder and jogging down the steps of the jet onto freezing Russian ground. 

It's not much from the open field of an airport but Louis can already tell the atmosphere here is different. It was maddening to think he could sense something was wrong but it certainly did feel like something grand was brewing beneath the streets.

"This way." Their agent here, equipped with the same accent, shook their hands and led them off to a GMC. "This car will take you to your hotel. The arrangements are made per your request and your identities fit who you want it to. Nobody knows you're here so let's keep it that way."

Louis and Niall read the personal information regarding their aliases in the car. He's less than impressed with his job of a casino employee at a poker table with an age that tacked on two years. Niall was something in the same casino so he figured there was something significant about that establishment.

"Why are they sticking to the Golden Lodge?" Louis asked their guiding agent who sat in the front of the SUV as their driver. 

"The man who made the promise of being our insider owns that casino. We'll have to find all its skeletons." 

"If he's worked with MI6 he'll recognise us."

"He has only seen the agents we let him meet. Change your accent and he's unsuspecting enough to not think anything of it."

Harry frowns. "He sounds like quite the delinquent."

"He is." Their car comes to a stop outside their hotel. "He's a delinquent with more money than brains so let's be clean about this. Louis, you're going to be low-key most of the time but when the time is right, you'll play a big part in our success."

"Yay." Louis jumps off immediately after Niall, hugging his bag to keep warm.

His name is Jonathon Rhodes here in Moscow, not Louis Tomlinson. He may never have been in the field but he's well aware of how much his fake identity means. He's also slightly miffed at the fact that he, as an aged casino employee, has to play husband to their Russian ally. 

"Zayn is waiting for you." They're told before the GMC closes up and is driven off.

Harry has three bags in his hands, one of which has to be Niall's because everyone had to help that poor lad. They get inside quickly and redeem their room keys while Harry and Louis speak the native tongue of Moscow. The elevator ride up is silent as there's a camera tucked away behind a mirror.

Zayn Malik is a warm and overly attractive male who welcomes them with open arms and a giant ring on his finger. He obviously greets them all with hospitable notions and clings to Louis like he's a life raft before they slip into a room and Harry's powerful glare drops to a stoic grimace.

"Your job is simple." Zayn closes all the windows, his words curved by the heavy accent he's sporting. "Get in and get out. We start here, in the casino."

Louis stands by a pillar closest to the bathroom, chills from where Zayn held his waist still prevalent. Harry is unimpressed with this specimen of a man but he doesn't allow it to cloud his judgment on the mission.

"You're Horan?" Zayn points a finger at Niall who has already seated himself on the carpeted floor. "Get to work taking down the cameras on the penthouse level. Your target is Ian Dalker and he's a nasty sonofabitch. This is everything we have on him."

Zayn tosses Niall a small flash USB and clicks his fingers in Louis' direction. "You have to come with me."

"And why is that?" Harry finally pushes off the wall to intervene.

"I'm his husband." Louis' voice nearly cracks at the end, avoiding Harry's blanched complexion. "For the mission, you know."

"Yes." Zayn smiles, broad and secretive. "He will be accompanying me to places where Ian will be. Don't worry, Harry Styles, I will take care of him."

**_[A/N: Lame.....so lame......I'm so sorry..... - S xx]_ **


	3. Chapter 3

**_[A/N: This whole book is in Narrator's POV so I won't be highlighting it anymore. There was a great response to this novel. It's a bit crazy lol never would I have ever thought that any of my works would do this well. Thank you all so, so much. New cover? Thoughts? (AO3 users, here's the link). - S xx]_ **

_We cease to be ourselves._

"Harry." Louis laid himself over the man sleeping peacefully in his bed, lips at his ear so as to be subtle. "Hey, boo?"

Harry slept like a rock when he knew he was safe. It's one of his traits that always surprised Louis whenever he remembered it. Harry could go from sleeping in his own bed, dead to the world, and anywhere else completely alert. Madness.

"Haz." Louis threw a leg over the man's side and curled it over his hips, peppering kisses where they belonged. "You have to wake up."

"Hmm." Harry grabbed onto Louis' shin with one hand and turned onto his side, his back squeezing in between Louis' narrower chest. 

"Good morning." Louis giggles, knowing exactly where to target when he brushes his ticklish fingertips over Harry's neckline.

The man stirs again, a tiny jolt to convey his dissatisfaction. Louis found it amusing and was also excited by the prospect of waking Harry up in the best possible way.

He warned him of his intentions with a sneaky little nibble on his ear lobe, his palm sliding down the front to glaze over Harry's abs and clear his throat softly. Harry showed no reaction but Louis knows this particular secret agent very well. He perseveres until Harry tilts his hips upward so Louis' hand can brush his groin.

Louis doesn't even need to use more pressure than the heel of his palm to get Harry to _drowsily_ roll onto his back. The boy grins and crawls over on all fours to hover above his lover, lips never lifting off the planes of skin exposed to him. Harry's expression is so peaceful, so relaxed as he breathes deeply through his flared nostrils. His fingers did tighten a little bit on Louis' fleshy hips.

"Hey." Louis whispers, low and seductive to fit the soft atmosphere of the quiet morning. "Hey there, boo."

Harry's pulse raced like wild horses under Louis' fingertips when Louis harmlessly wrapped his hands around his neck. Louis lowered his mouth from Harry's jaw to his clavicle, making gentle suckles on the hard skin as he went.

He worked his way down to past Harry's belly button where it was tough from muscle and his hip bones were prominent from under his skin. Louis spread his jaws and sunk his teeth into a little bit of skin. Harry's body was completely bare and Louis let him indiscreetly grab his hair.

"Awake yet?" Louis uncovered Harry's c*ck from under the comforter, wrapping his hand around it. 

"Not yet." Harry fake grumbled, voice scratchy and rough from a long sleep. 

Giggling, Louis pumped his closed fist up and down the limp length. It was fattening up quickly and the progress made Louis' inner self very pleased, his cheshire cat grin coming into phase when Harry kissed him after he united their lips.

Harry moved one hand to the back of Louis' head when he rolled them over suddenly, gently laying the boy's head down on the pillow with more energetic gyrating between Louis' thighs. He becomes more desperate when his fingers slither in between Louis' and pin their wrists above their heads. He starts sucking on the freckled skin of Louis' throat as he grinds down filthily.

"Good morning, little bird." Harry's cracking voice resounds in Louis' ear as he feels them heat up between their thighs. 

"H-Hi." Louis curved his spine upward and settled down more comfortably amongst the sheets. "We have work in an hour."

"Hmm." Harry nips at the tip of his nose and his chin. "Better hurry up then, huh?"

"Y-Yeah." Louis holds onto Harry's lovehandles and gets his knees kicked apart before Harry is reaching down between them. "Th-That was fast."

Harry smirks and shuts him up with a kiss to paralyse and conquer. "You have that undeniable effect on me, little bird."

They make love in the dull morning light with Louis always protected under the cover of Harry's broad frame. Louis hardly ever got to be on top but he never complained. He closed his eyes and curled his insides, savouring the crazed sensation that flowed through his body as Harry fucked him like he never got to before, never would again.

Their bodies slid together and fitted against one another's like they were carved from each other. Harry grunted and moaned as he fisted the pillow Louis' head lay on, his hips slamming painfully into Louis' pelvic bone with a satisfied groan each time. His little bird made him feel like he was on top of the world, held onto him like he was worth every bit of hardship.

Harry seared Louis' insides with come when he came too early for both their records, Louis crying out his lover's name as he soon followed. They sagged together and Harry caught his breath first, never stopping his petting motion on Louis' waist until he did.

"My little bird." He pulled out gingerly but went no further than that. "Fucking Hell, baby."

Louis beamed tiredly as he blinked lazily at the ceiling. "Don't flatter me for nothing, Agent Styles."

"Flattering you is why I'm put on this Earth." Harry pulls to the side when Louis rolls his eyes and gets off the bed with one of the sheets around him.

Watching the younger male's body with his hungry eyes, Harry links his fingers behind his head and lies back against the pillows. Louis goes into the bathroom but leaves the door open which is all the invitation Harry needs to get up and follow.

  
* * * * *  


"Doctor T." Louis' assistant comes after him as soon as he enters the lab with his coat on.

"Yes, Carrie?" He buttons the first three black tabs and takes his clipboard of today's tasks from her.

"Headquarters called for you." She clicks her pen nervously. "Do you think it's about the new prototype?"

"No, love." He laughs and grabs a set of noise cancelling headphones off a steel table before passing the bomb testers. "Go check on that for me and when I get back I'd like a full report."

"Yes Sir." She smiles and salutes him before taking a U-turn on her walk. 

Louis sighs as he reads the sheet of instruction that's come from headquarters, highlighting nothing but the procedure and code he should use for when accessing the black door this time. He cuts his inspection of the interns working for him short and gets to the elevator, headphones now around his neck.

"Hold the door!" Someone calls from a short distance away, making Louis scoff at the identity of its owner.

"The incredible Agent Styles should be able to crawl up the elevator shaft or something." Louis teases as the doors slide closed without looking to the side where Harry got in.

Harry's fingers push his hair back as he smirks around his gum chewing, circling the O of his mouth with his thumb and forefinger. "Haven't done that in a few months, Dr. T."

Louis presses the button indicating headquarters on the panel and enters the code he's memorised into the trackpad that pops up. "You should look into some of the training activities for new agents. They're....invogorating."

"Invigorating, little bird?" Harry chuckles. "I've come past that stage. Ten years now."

It always made Louis a little sad to think about Harry's time at MI6. He's been involved in the nasty business of secret agents and double-identities for a decade. No family, no connections outside his work. Louis only came to MI6 for half that time and it's because a personal request with his name on it came to his dormitory door.

"I know." Louis saw that they were almost on the right floor and made a sneaky quest to quickly peck Harry's cheek before exiting through the doors as they slid open.

Harry stands there frozen for a minute, triggered by the only thing that can possibly create it. Louis. He smiles to himself as he steps out in the scent trail of lavender and vanilla that Louis left behind, meeting him silently at the black door that was just pulling back. 

Their meeting is held in a blackened theatre, the only one of its kind, that is always used for the briefing of new missions. Harry's been appointed head of the task force and he's selected everyone who will be on his team, Louis included.

Niall Horan, tech whizz, has taken a seat right at the front and Louis finds himself next to him. Liam Payne sat two seats away from Niall and Harry lessened that gap by taking up residence beside him.

"Gentlemen." AK stands in front of a fuzzy grey screen with folders in her hand to be passed out, her black suit fitted to her figure. "We're here for the recovery of Project Alpha. Does anyone in the room not know what that is?"

The question is a formality because everyone who is of the correct pay-grade knows what Project Alpha is. Harry keeps his eyes trained on the screen as images start to spread out across it, close to thirty photographs with the faces of men and women who gave their lives to serving their country.

"This-" AK hands Niall the stack of folders and everyone ends up with one each. "-is your mission for the next few months. The Russians have broken their promise and are holding thirty agents hostage in an unknown location."

Louis looks up from the pages and printed reports to the faces of young agents who don't know what they're in for. He's seen agents go down one by one without fear in the field, taken by surprise. The ones who were taken and held always suffered the most.

"You will be there to track them down and bring them back." AK has the photographs removed and a single one of an attractive male brought up. "This is Zayn Malik, your Russian correspondent."

"How do we know we can trust him at all?" Harry pipes up, unbuttoning his suit jacket. "The Russians just broke their truce with us."

"Zayn is MI6 first. He transferred there after service as long as yours, Agent Styles." AK replies, turning back to the screen when he nods. "If you come up with anything, he will guide you. He's going to keep you under the radar there."

Everyone nods, each one attentive and hearing every word there is. Louis crosses his legs as the rest of their briefing his said out loud, Niall staring straight ahead without blinking. They each have their strengths when it comes to listening, and Harry's is simply mentally documenting everything in summaries.

"We're done here." AK finally claps her hands together once and the room brightens. "Pack your bags. You're leaving in three hours."

"Crazy." Niall shakes his head, shoving his paperwork into his bag and standing up with Louis. "Absolute madness."

"What is?" Louis smiles politely, straightening his coat out as it fell to his thighs. 

"This mission." Niall specifies with vague hand gestures, straightening his glasses on the bridge of his nose. "How will we survive in Russian if we don't even speak Russian?"

Louis happens to catch Harry's eye over Niall's shoulder as the latter is chatting with Liam. "My mozhem delit' komnatu, i ya nauchu vas."

"What?" Niall's eyes go wide with awe and respect.

"We can be room-mates." Louis lightly punches Niall's arm in a compadre kind of way. "I'll teach you."

Niall seems okay with the idea and walks out with Louis after the boy gives Harry one little smile to last them a few more hours. "We get room-mates?"

"Yeah." Louis replies, chewing on his pen cap. "We won't be moving around after the tech lab gets a location."

"Which is-" Niall points his thumbs at himself. "-me so I will catch you later."

Louis' laughs follows Niall out of headquarters. "Sure, Horan."

His day is filled with duties in the lab as there are new pieces of equipment that need his approval, and refining of older ones for the new mission. Louis spends hours in the 'basement' where unused weapons are kept, calling two interns with a list of what to polish and do testing on before bringing down the two field agents.

"Well, well." Harry walks out of the elevator with his hands in his black suit pockets and an impressed smirk. "I never thought I'd be allowed down here."

"I believe there are two of you." Louis turns on his heel after shaking Liam's hand and ignoring Harry's. "I will show you thirteen items. Five weapons and the rest are bugs of sorts. You can make two swaps and one additional request."

"The additional request." Liam looks away when Louis types in his personal password into the silver walk-in vault's keypad. "Does that include personalised stuff?"

"Yes." Louis smiles over his shoulder, sealing the vault door behind them. "I can design something new or modify something old."

Louis goes to the table laden with what he specified would be to his interns. Harry is impressed with everything, as he always is when it comes to Louis even in the work place. He remains silent but alert as he either watches his little bird or the glistening objects of violent art before him.

"This is my favourite." Louis looks like a smitten child when it comes to candy as he brings out a _tiny_ piece of metal from a black leather case. "It's going to be replicated and sewn into one article of clothing each."

"What does it do, li- Dr. T?" Harry asks, his fondness struggling not to overflow as he observes the pride in Louis' eyes.

"It basically hacks into every technological device around you when activated." Louis explains, slipping it back into the case. "This will come in handy when you're around very important people."

"Can it be picked up by anything?" Liam asks him.

"No." Louis clears his throat and moves around the table. "It's made of a metal that only MI6 possesses as it's a product of our own. It can't be sensed by any piece of equipment if we don't want it to be."

After their evaluation, Louis records any changes and requests they have before ushering them out the door. He gets to work on the alterations while packing away what's finalised into the right kind of styrofoam briefcases to get going.

"Dr. T!" One of Louis' interns come rushing over with a flushed face and sniffle from the recovery of the flu. "Headquarters needs you."

Louis looks at his watch and sees that he has less than twenty minutes from their three hour wait left. He thanks the intern and calls Carrie over with his bluetooth device to control the transportation of everything that's packed. He's on his way up as soon as the elevator arrives with Niall in it, lugging behind him three suitcases and his laptop case. Louis knows that there are no clothes in any of those bags.

"Let's go!" He shouts to his only other friend here with an eager wave in his direction. 

"Yeah, yeah. I'm comin'." Louis sheds his coat and ruffles his own hair to upset it from its sad state. 

He jogs over to the elevator and gets in with Niall, pouting at all the black bags around them. Niall shrugs and they ride in silence down to below ground level while Louis checks his phone and feeds on the excitement brewing in his gut.

Never having been on a mission of any kind before, Louis doesn't understand why he's not nervous or afraid to be out there where some people never get back from. Maybe it's the reassurance that Harry will be there and that happens to be the only other person who he will trust with his life.

"Ready for this?" Louis asks Niall as he rocks back on the heels of his Vans with his fingers looped through his jeans belt loops.

"I've been in the field twelve times." Niall scratches at his throat harmlessly. "I've never been _ready_ a single time."

Louis draws in a large nervous breath after that, exhaling just as a bell goes off and they're allowed to deboard the elevator. He helps Niall with the luggage he's carrying and they enter everyone's favourite part of MI6.

The garage contained every brand of car created in the outside world for over sixty years, storing the newest and most aged underground. Louis had his team of engineers along with himself design some of the most elite and sleek cars to ever drive on these roads, and he sees that they'll be taking one of those now.

"We're taking the Hybrid." Harry is the one to step around AK and Liam to greet them with a straight face. 

"The Hybrid?" Louis steps to the side and looks expectantly at AK. "I haven't finished working on that."

Louis had over two teams of the worlds best engineers working directly for him but he's the best and everything went through him. He wasn't happy with the Hybrid's inability to switch modes from a transparent windscreen to a computerised one yet. The Hybrid was otherwise their best invention yet, his baby from all his works.

"I'm afraid we have no choice, Dr. T." AK sighs regretfully. "None of the other MI6 cars are out of repairs yet or not in the field."

"It's also only programmed to work with my voice." Louis adds, Harry's smug grin not yet going away. 

"An entire three and a half hour flight to Moscow should give you enough time to reprogramme it then." AK speaks to him respectfully but in her authoritative tone that alerts him no more arguments will be tolerated. "Get in and get going."

Louis tries to be professional about it but he's already hating field work enough to nearly throw Niall's stuff in the trunk and break all of it.

  
* * * * *  


Upon coming on board, Louis went straight to the MI6 cargo segment of the private jet to get to work reprogramming the Hybrid. It's colour changed from black to navy blue when he touched the bonnet, just as predicted. The car picked up environments even when the engine was switched off, and he being the creator made it more sensitive to him.

"Knock knock." Someone tapped on the cargo department's steel door with their knuckle.

Louis looked up and leaned back against the Hybrid's closed driver door with his legs splayed out in front of him. "Come on in, Harry."

Harry made his way over, minus his suit jacket from earlier, with two champagne glasses and an unopened bottle of the golden liquid itself. He seats himself down next to Louis and welcomes the boy's head on his shoulder.

"Rough day?" Harry fills their glasses up and hands Louis one. 

"You should know all about bad days." Louis slipped under Harry's arm perfectly, curling his legs up on the man's lap because they were alone. 

"AK was a little rude, I'll admit." Harry took a sip of champagne when Louis downed half the glass. "She also has deadlines worse than any of ours."

"Yeah." Louis puffed up his cheeks and kicked off his shoes. "Who packed my stuff if I didn't get a chance to?"

"I did." Harry took a large gulp of his drink before Louis took it from him to finish. "I still have that key you gave me, little bird."

Laughing into Harry's shoulder, his teeth latch onto the man's jacket just because he's hoping that the alcohol has made him a little tipsy already. Louis gets hugged close as they both hear nothing more of intruding people coming closer from any other cabin.

"So do you promise no scandalous affairs on this mission?" Louis lifts his head and looks Harry in the eye with a raised brow.

A heavy bout of laughter follows from his suitor. "Whatever or whoever may be source of information about my scandalous affairs, is wrong."

Louis laughs behind his refilled champagne flute, crossing his legs. "Seriously though, Harry."

"Little bird." Harry shuts him down regarding any doubts he may have. "I've never slept with anyone besides you since our first meeting."

The smile that becomes prominent Louis' face makes him into a little pixie boy whose chock-a-block on colourful candy, not a highly qualified engineer and technician. "Glad to hear it, Styles."

"Aha." Harry accepts a sip or two from Louis' offering. "So you're okay now, little bird?"

"Yeah." Louis sobers for a moment to not resent what AK said earlier and be oh so grateful for a secret lover who is badass but also humble. 

"That's good." Harry suddenly gets to his feet and Louis glares at him when it risks his balance. "I've got a lovely other awaiting me in the bedroom for-"

Louis throws his pen at him and sits back against the Hybrid's closed driver's door as it turns from navy to emerald green. He groans loudly at the choice of colour when Harry sits back down, effortlessly managing to not scrape his polished dress shoes. 

"How long have I been here?" Louis asks the air, giving up the alcohol intake for now. 

"Two hours." Harry replies, corking the champagne bottle again, turning his head to be closer to Louis'. "Would you like to do something to pass the remaining time?"

Louis pulls his face a little nearer with a purposeful wink. His lips part and dry up when Harry's hot breath fans over it. Their noses brush and Louis smiles a little secretively, like they're passing codes to one another without using words.

"You know we can't." Louis whispers, breathless just by being in a corner with someone who has such an effect on him.

"Which is-" Harry fits himself between the Hybrid's front bonnet and the wall, easily dodging any chance of them being seen. "-exactly why we should, little bird."

Louis tries not to be hopelessly flattered by Harry's attempt at seduction coupled with sweetness. He nonetheless finds himself safely tucked away in the crook between his best creation and a solid steel wall that's part of another grand MI6 production.

"If we get caught-" Louis breathlessly says through the tedious process of having his pants stripped. "-I'm blamin' you."

Harry's chuckle gets branded like black and silky ink on Louis' neck, his cold hands slipping under elasticated cotton to grope his boy. "Shut it and get on my c*ck, little bird."

"Aren't you a charmer." Louis giggles and uses Harry's shoulders for support to position himself. "You're supposed to be nice to me, you know."

"I'm always-" Harry bites his lip and groans when Louis is fully seated on his lap. "Fuck. I'm always good to you, little bird."

"Your c*ck may be but you certainly aren't."

  
* * * * *  


"I suggest you get a move on, Dr. T." Harry indecently pinches Louis' bum when no one's looking, satisfied to grin at the squeaky moan the boy emits. "We're going to be late for the meeting with our correspondent."

"Agent Styles, it won't be my fault if we're late." Louis bites back, slinging a strap of his bag over his shoulder and jogging down the steps of the jet onto freezing Russian ground. 

It's not much from the open field of an airport but Louis can already tell the atmosphere here is different. It was maddening to think he could sense something was wrong but it certainly did feel like something grand was brewing beneath the streets.

"This way." Their agent here, equipped with the same accent, shook their hands and led them off to a GMC. "This car will take you to your hotel. The arrangements are made per your request and your identities fit who you want it to. Nobody knows you're here so let's keep it that way."

Louis and Niall read the personal information regarding their aliases in the car. He's less than impressed with his job of a casino employee at a poker table with an age that tacked on two years. Niall was something in the same casino so he figured there was something significant about that establishment.

"Why are they sticking to the Golden Lodge?" Louis asked their guiding agent who sat in the front of the SUV as their driver. 

"The man who made the promise of being our insider owns that casino. We'll have to find all its skeletons." 

"If he's worked with MI6 he'll recognise us."

"He has only seen the agents we let him meet. Change your accent and he's unsuspecting enough to not think anything of it."

Harry frowns. "He sounds like quite the delinquent."

"He is." Their car comes to a stop outside their hotel. "He's a delinquent with more money than brains so let's be clean about this. Louis, you're going to be low-key most of the time but when the time is right, you'll play a big part in our success."

"Yay." Louis jumps off immediately after Niall, hugging his bag to keep warm.

His name is Jonathon Rhodes here in Moscow, not Louis Tomlinson. He may never have been in the field but he's well aware of how much his fake identity means. He's also slightly miffed at the fact that he, as an aged casino employee, has to play husband to their Russian ally. 

"Zayn is waiting for you." They're told before the GMC closes up and is driven off.

Harry has three bags in his hands, one of which has to be Niall's because everyone had to help that poor lad. They get inside quickly and redeem their room keys while Harry and Louis speak the native tongue of Moscow. The elevator ride up is silent as there's a camera tucked away behind a mirror.

Zayn Malik is a warm and overly attractive male who welcomes them with open arms and a giant ring on his finger. He obviously greets them all with hospitable notions and clings to Louis like he's a life raft before they slip into a room and Harry's powerful glare drops to a stoic grimace.

"Your job is simple." Zayn closes all the windows, his words curved by the heavy accent he's sporting. "Get in and get out. We start here, in the casino."

Louis stands by a pillar closest to the bathroom, chills from where Zayn held his waist still prevalent. Harry is unimpressed with this specimen of a man but he doesn't allow it to cloud his judgment on the mission.

"You're Horan?" Zayn points a finger at Niall who has already seated himself on the carpeted floor. "Get to work taking down the cameras on the penthouse level. Your target is Ian Dalker and he's a nasty sonofabitch. This is everything we have on him."

Zayn tosses Niall a small flash USB and clicks his fingers in Louis' direction. "You have to come with me."

"And why is that?" Harry finally pushes off the wall to intervene.

"I'm his husband." Louis' voice nearly cracks at the end, avoiding Harry's blanched complexion. "For the mission, you know."

"Yes." Zayn smiles, broad and secretive. "He will be accompanying me to places where Ian will be. Don't worry, Harry Styles, I will take care of him."

**_[A/N: Lame.....so lame......I'm so sorry..... - S xx]_ **


	4. Chapter 4

**_[A/N: Raise your hand if Spectre made you fangirl too. - S xx]_ **

"What is this?" Louis questioned the presence of just one bed in the hotel room he's been brought to by Zayn. He despises Zayn already. 

Their hotel room reservations have been altered to suit their story. Harry and Niall shared while Liam had his own room, the whole balance of their mission thrown off by Zayn's fact of Louis being his _spouse._ Asshole.

"It is a bed, _Moya lyubov_." Zayn responded with a self-satisfied smirk and began removing his valuables.

"Don't call me that, _Zhopa._ " Louis frowned at the mattress and dropped his only suitcase at the foot of it.

Zayn's eyebrow rose to his hairline. "You speak my _yazyk_? I am...flattered."

"I didn't learn it for _you._ " Louis rolled his eyes and turned towards the vast window when he saw Zayn go for his shirt button.

"Of course." He heard Zayn's amused reply, focusing hard on the panoramic glass rather than the unfortunate reflection of Zayn shedding his dress shirt on it. "Would you like a drink, _Moya lyubov_? However, you may have to look at me for that."

Louis sighed and turned around. He really did want that drink. It didn't faze him when he was offered a crystal glass of amber liquid by a man of marvelous physique on perfectly tanned olive skin. Tattoos were scattered across that skin, telling stories in pictures and writing.

 _"Spasibo."_ Louis heard himself say after downing a sip of the golden alcohol, soothed by its burn. 

Zayn set his hip against the small table, a short distance from Louis. Louis, with undeniably soft skin and brilliant blue eyes. "You are welcome. I promise to not taint you for your _lyubovnik_."

Louis maintains his calm, aware that Zayn is carefully watching him from behind the rim of his tumbler. "I don't have a boyfriend."

"You insult me by lying, _Moya lyubov_." Zayn chuckles deeply, shaking his head as he moved away towards the window. "I will keep your secret, _Moya lyubov_."

Depicting his panic would show Louis' weakness which he didn't want to do. He had to stay relaxed even if he felt sweat gather on his hairline and the dip of his back. 

With slow steps he came to stand beside Zayn at the window. "You may keep your own secret. I have none from my husband."

Zayn barked out a laughed and drowned the rest of his drink, watching the sparkling lights of the lives beneath them. "So now you will be playing along?"

"I don't have a choice." Louis glances at him through the corner of his eye, catching Zayn with eyes already on him. _"U menya?"_

 _"Net."_ Zayn goes to refill his glass, abruptly pulling away from where his lips were inches away from Louis' cheek. "You will have the bed, _Moya lyubov_ , and I the um....-"

"Sofa." Louis adds for him with a teasing little smile. 

_"Da."_ Zayn smiles charmingly at him before making a trip to the bathroom. " _Preusprevat._ Feel free to go get us some ice, dear."

Louis knows why he's saying that and is aware that he can use the silver bucked by the mini-bar as a reason to see Harry again. Having to keep up their appearances for the whole of Russia might be difficult but sending a text through the devices Niall supplied them with wouldn't be. The phones couldn't be hacked or tracked.

Harry, pacing around the hotel room while Niall ordered room service under an alias, was never happier to feel the vibration of his own phone in his jacket pocket. He smiled at the cute text from the only person capable of sending them, and grabbed the ice bucket right out from under Niall's laptop.

He walked down three hallways, two lefts and a right, before spotting the ice machine in an isolated corner. Red lights flickered towards the top right corner and if Harry stayed under it, he could remain invisible. He saw the silhouette of his favourite other person and swallowed any visible signs of relief or joy until he was close enough.

Louis hardly got to set the bucket down before Harry tossed both of theirs and he was pinned up against the wall. He had his back collide with cold wallpaper and his legs pried apart for his only lover to stand between, harsh and long fingers digging into his thighs as they were hoisted up. 

Harry connected their mouths and silenced Louis' protests, licking into the boy's mouth with apt precision to taste all the right places before he had to breathe again. Louis whimpered delicately like the flower he was to Harry, smaller hands on the man's broad shoulders.

"We may get killed on this mission-" Harry pulled away to cup Louis' cheek and whisper against his lips. "-just because I can't stay away from you."

"You've done it before." Louis points out, breathless already and moulded to the hard form of Harry's body. 

"Not like this, little bird." The man spoke like was getting his first dose of a lethal drug he craved painfully after being deprived. "Not when you could belong to someone else."

"I'm no one's possession." Louis stated firmly.

"No, of course not." Harry gently peppered kisses along Louis' cheekbones and jawline. "You're just mine, little bird."

Louis giggled and listened for sounds of unknown footsteps. None occurred and he sighed contentedly into Harry's neck. He lightly pecked the man's jugular. "You're mine too, boo."

A loud groan from his lover made Louis laugh with a twinkle in his eye. To silence him, Harry had to obvious. "I could take you right here, little bird."

"No." Louis replied sadly, lightly combing through Harry's upset curls. "You couldn't."

There's too much at stake. Already with them so vulnerable and being so stupidly naïve in a circumstance like this, there's a lot more than recognisable at stake. Lives. Arsenal. Information. It was nearly impossible to identify such grand facets of an operation in the hands of two reckless agents.

"Cameras." Louis listed the reasons why Harry's eyes shouldn't be darkening the way they are, ears pricking at a new sound. "Someone on our left."

Harry heard it too and was just in time to act before the stranger could come around the corner. Louis stood behind him while he filled ice into his bucket from the low machine, the new person joining their little party. It was a young blonde female too distracted with her iPhone to care enough about the amused glance Harry spares Louis through a mirrored surface on the ice machine.

Unfortunately they have to part ways because of this youngster and Louis only fills half the bucket with ice, the steady shuffle of Harry's boots getting fainter the further away he went. The irony and sadness didn't fail to settle in Louis' heart.

Upon returning to the right room, Harry finds Niall fidgeting with an array of gadgets on the floor whilst sitting in the middle of his informal circle. Niall briefly looks up from his plate of chicken wings and potato wedges when Harry drops the ice and strips off his jacket.

"How much do we know about Zayn, Niall?" Harry asked the busy boy on the carpet, not at ease with the absent man.

"Everything." Niall answers curtly, already pulling up blacked-out files and photos on his compute screen. Harry crouches down by him. "Special ops since two thousand and six. Thirty-three successful missions and this is his thirty-fourth."

Harry chews his lip as he listens and reads, nothing nagging him to distrust this individual except his envy. "Okay."

"Want a wedge?" Niall holds up his plate when Harry starts to get up. 

Everyone wants a scrap piece of Agent Styles, no matter how discarded and delapidated. His high ranking earned him respect, loyalty and nobility that no one else has had this early in MI6 history. 

Everyone who came forth to claim a piece of the man-made prize knew exactly what they were getting into and that only one person, one blue-eyed boy with a high IQ and maddening physical appeal, would ever weave their way into Agent Styles' secret circle. It was no small surprise that Harry found Niall wanting his friendship too. 

"Thanks." Harry took one off his plate and headed for the bathroom. "Is Liam in his room?"

Niall knows he is but double checks with the tracker on Liam's person anyway to be sure, because of who's asking. "Yes."

"Good." Harry undoes his cufflinks and opens the tap to wash his face. "I need a drinking partner."

He looked at his reflection and saw himself. Every emotion he's ever felt in every situation he's ever been in. Big and small, grand or unimportant. There was a lot behind the mask of charm and attractiveness. Besides the sex appeal there happened to be scars as massive as his victories and minute as his failures. 

They marred his skin and he always saw them. They're what made him ugly to nobody but himself, until he met someone who made him forget about them. Louis kissed his scars the same way he kissed his lips, smiled all the same and let Harry make love to him like he _wasn't_ a monster. 

Harry will only ever admit to Louis that he missed him so much in moments like this. Not being allowed a break between missions has not allowed for him to recover, to better his wounds before entering the war zone again. And this time Louis was with him.

"Niall!" Harry shouted to his companion with his arms pressed into the counter.

"Yeah?" Niall just finished eating, wiping off his fingers distractedly on an article of clothing.

Harry left his shattering reflection to join Niall in the main room. "What's your poison? I think I need more than one drinking partner tonight."

  
* * * * *  


"So, let me get this straight." Louis lay on his back, staring up at the ceiling while he is comfy in bed. "You _ate_ the worm?"

Zayn was in the exact same position, save for the fact that he was on the sofa a few feet away. He laughed at Louis' astounded tone. "Yes, _Moya lyubov_. I had to eat it."

"But why?" Louis turned on his side towards Zayn, head propped up on his arm and sheets all around him.

"Because-" Zayn ran a hand through his hair, still smiling. "-there was no uh- other...option."

"You could have just cut it open." Louis shrugged with his suggestion, a funny taste developing on his tongue after hearing this story.

" _Net._ There was no time." Zayn said honestly, embodying an agent to envy around the world. "You won't be kissing me, _Moya lyubov_. No need to look so startled."

"You can count on it." Louis flopped onto his back and switched off the lamp at his side. "Goodnight, Zayn."

"Uh- Sleep tight, Louis."

Louis was facing the curtained window and laughed under his breath at Zayn's attempt at bidding him goodnight. He closed his eyes and fell asleep easily enough, a lot of his safety worries kept at bay because he trusted Zayn moderately.

  
* * * * *  


"Have you ever been in love, Liam?" Harry swirled the contents of his glass, the Scotch on rocks creating a soft rhythm to listen to. 

"Yes." Liam gulped down the last of his martini and raised his hand for another. "Still am."

Harry didn't expect that answer, and sat up straighter to listen. "Tell me."

"Well-" Liam sighed as a fresh drink arrived in the warm buzzing atmosphere of the hotel bar. "-she was ordered to kill me. Thought she'd have a little fun first. I fell for her before she did for me."

"What happened?" This time, it's Niall who asks with his tall glass of almond milk halfway drunk. 

Liam brought the martini glass to his lips to take a small sip, not lifting his eyes from the shiny display of bottles behind the bartender. "I killed her."

Harry _definitely_ didn't expect that. He screwed his jaw tightly shut and turned back to his empty glass, getting his refilled in no time. "Should I say I'm sorry?"

"No." Liam actually chuckled and it made Harry a little nauseous to think one could laugh after the loss of someone so special. "I hated that I love her but after a few years it didn't go away so I embraced the pain. I actually felt lighter."

"So-" Niall picked at the straw in his cup. "-you won't see other people ever again?"

"Look at our lives, Horan." Liam spared him a disbelieving glance while Harry studied the condensation of his glass. "Who has ever gotten a successful love story with our lives?"

  
* * * * *  


"Zayn, I'm not your real husband. I _will_ shoot you if you don't wake up this instant." Louis tries, for the sixth or seventh time, to wake Zayn up because notice arrived via Niall's secret cellular devices that they have real work to do today.

In fact, they had separate tasks to get done today after a meeting together to clarify their duties. But, Louis needed to get breakfast first and for him to do that Zayn had to get off his lazy arse.

" _Moya lyubov_ , let me sleep." Zayn complained but sounded clear enough in phonics to just be messing around.

"Get up." Louis hit him in the face with a deadly decorative cushion. 

In approximately twenty minutes he had Zayn ready to walk out the door. He was dressed according to Zayn's casual code of conduct and had his arm looped through his, glad that he knew a little about the man so he didn't feel like crawling out of his skin. 

They took the elevator down to the dining area but made one very vital stop beforehand and that was on the sixth floor when a new passenger got on. A tall and lean man with a coat probably weighing more than he does. Zayn doesn't let him get a full view or the man get one of Louis because he conceals the boy with his body, arms on hips that don't belong to him and mouth mumbling non-sensical things in Louis' ear.

Louis gets a glimpse and a half before the stranger turns away and shows heavy disinterest in their amorous mannerisms. He forces a smile onto his face and giggles softly into Zayn's neck, hands fitted to the collar of his loosely buttoned shirt.

" _Moya lyubov_ , do you speak any other language?" Zayn spoke in his ear, but the trailing of his nose down to Louis' jugular says something more intimate.

Louis felt his heart race and get a little more frightened when the man in front of them turns briefly. He holds onto Zayn's shirt and doesn't calm down even when the man's warm hand comes to rest over his heart.

"Be still, _Moya lyubov_. You'll get those croissants soon enough." Zayn places a little kiss on Louis' cheek and the boy feels it turn cold on his smooth skin.

Once they're free of the elevator and sharing those confines with the most hostile individual Louis' ever come across, they enter the dining room where other guests are enjoying their breakfasts. Most of the food choices are internationally recognised and Zayn keeps a steady arm around Louis' waist throughout the buffet.

Harry and Niall walk in two minutes ahead of Liam. They find tables to be seated according to their room division and don't glance each other's way once. Louis' eyes scan over Harry's prim form by the window, chatting easily with Niall, and decides then and there that he doesn't like field work.

He doesn't enjoy being ignored for the sake of a mission. He belongs in a lab with his prototypes and familiar machinery. Russia isn't for him, nowhere outside his apartment and MI6 headquarters will ever be.

Keeping in mind that he's irreversibly _in_ this now, Louis puts on his bravest face and accepts the seat that Zayn pulls out for him. They sit down a lovely breakfast and Louis appreciates how much the other male tries to distract him with idle chatter.

"Does the Queen not feed you in England, _Moya lyubov_?" Zayn asks him, smirking around his chewing. 

"I can't tell if you're being funny or not." Louis tilts his head to the side in curiosity. "Are you?"

"I am." Zayn laughs in mockery, feeding himself more of his colourful omelete. "Would you like some of mine?"

Louis looks down at his barren plate of butter croissants and a strange salad, pouting down at it while Zayn slid his plate to the middle of the table. "Thank you."

"It is no bother." Zayn answers, almost professionally, not battling Louis' fork for a corner of the egg. "You did not eat dinner yesterday."

"You noticed." Louis crossed his legs under the table, using just one hand on it. 

"I did." Zayn notices how Louis cuts small cubes off egg with his fork and eats it, chewing painfully slow. " _Moya lyubov_ , is something wrong?"

"No." Louis lies. "No, I'm fine."

Zayn looks at him apprehensively but doesn't say anything more on the matter. He can easily tell this is Louis' first time in the field, doing what agents have done for generations. Real husband or not, Zayn has a good heart and it bothers him.

"You eat too slow, _Moya lyubov_. It will get cold." Zayn takes Louis' utensils away from him, merely snickering at the boy's hurt expression when he does. He breaks of bigger pieces of the egg and holds it up. _"Õpe rot."_

Louis does as told and opens his mouth for Zayn to literally spoon-feed him. It doesn't taste any different to when he was weakly, noncommitally feeding himself but at least he gets time to spend looking around.

  
* * * * *  


"I know you want to look." Niall said with a spoonful of apricot yogurt in his mouth. 

"I'm glad someone knows, Horan." Harry glares at him from behind a full mug of black coffee, no sugar or sweetener. 

"This isn't good, you know." Niall stuffed his face so this his words were less identifiable to an outside eye. "If AK knew she'd say-"

"Knew what, Horan?" Harry nearly slammed his mug down onto the table, aggravated by too many factors.

"This." Niall doesn't react to Harry's anger. "Don't make your feelings for him a liability."

"My _feelings_?" Harry does his best to sound outraged and offended in a low volume, there being no need for extra attention.

"Yes." Niall returns to the Muesli in his yogurt. "One of you is going to do something stupid otherwise."

  
* * * * *  


"We're all here." Zayn announces with a clearing of his throat, and nods to one of the men by the door. "Close the windows and the doors. We have thirty minutes."

Everyone has assembled as notified in Liam's room. They had a big job to do today and new information was going to be thrown onto the table, where Louis sat on the corner. It was a transparent glass piece of furniture and Liam said it was okay if he sat on it, Zayn hovering by his side much to Harry's chagrin.

Harry was at the opposite side of the room, arms crossed over his black silk shirt and never muttered a word to Louis since he walked in. He had no idea of the doubts and misery in the boy's mind so it was only he who noticed that of himself. Louis was too distracted.

"We begin with this." Zayn gave Niall a stack of five photos which was to be passed around. "The man who is responsible for the captivity of your agents is Ivan. He has no last name. He is in this hotel at the moment and will be attending a fundraiser this afternoon. We will all be there once I get us on the list."

The rest of the mission is lightly touched on as getting the location of their agents via manipulating Ivan in any smooth, covert way possible. It could be a lengthy and dangerous process if everyone doesn't play their part.

At the end of the meeting, everyone fans out to their regular duties except one. Harry couldn't take it any longer and grabbed Louis' arm when the boy was headed for the door, scaring him as he cornered him against the doorway to the bathroom.

Louis relaxed at the sight of Harry, never having been so relieved in his life. He hangs onto the man with both hands and leans against him without a care for being found out. Harry rubs Louis' back and rids him of his goosebumps and shivers.

"Oh little bird." Harry kisses Louis' head, closing his eyes to take in the scent of citrus and vanilla. "My strong, beautiful little bird."

"I'm not." Louis' finger traces the creases on Harry's shirt by the crook of his arm. "I just want to go home, Harry."

Harry felt Louis' resentment in his words, the tiredness and sadness. He had to get the boy off his feet though. "So soon, my love? Our honeymoon only just began."

That roused a smile from the boy, who sniffled and momentarily risked the pleasure of closing his eyes. "I can't stay, Harry. I'm sorry."

"I know, little bird." Harry squeezed his eyes shut and hugged Louis tightly. "I'm sorry for bringing you here."

"It's alright. We both thought I could handle it."

Harry smiled wryly in a way that didn't allow the twitch to reach his mossy green eyes. "You're still the strongest person I know, little bird."

Louis giggles, feeling a litte lighter already where a previous burden used to rest. "You're not mad at me then?"

"No, love. It's early in the mission and you can go back. You'll be safe back home." Harry kissed his forehead and nose. "You'll be safe there."

"I'm safe here." Louis matches his genuine smile, resembling the peachy sweet boy Harry met years ago. 

"Right here?" Harry tightened his grip until he was sure it hurt just a little. "I agree."

"I'm leaving tonight." Louis informs him, hearing the door click after the last visitor exited the hotel suite. "I haven't told Zayn yet."

Harry groans at the mention of the man who he dislikes passionately for taking his little bird away from him. "You and he are very fond of one another."

"He's a good husband." Louis teases, loving the stiff stature that Harry takes on as he struggles with the tendency of possessiveness. "Don't worry, boo. I'm all yours."

"It would do you good to remember that, little bird." Harry bites the pinna of Louis' ear. "When I see you again we will most likely be getting hitched."

"I doubt it." Louis scoffs like he doesn't believe anything the secret agent cradling him says. "I'm not one to be tied down-"

"To anything but me." Harry finishes off his statement with meeting Louis' lips. 

He kisses the boy and physically feels all those worries melt away through the union as Louis becomes more secure with such a familiar face around. He gets to go home and that excites him, although makes him feel like a fool for ever imagining he could handle a mission like this. It's not humiliating for him to return to MI6 though because he's the best in his field and people will always respect that.

  
* * * * *  


Louis doesn't remember anything.

His head hurts like a snake continually attacking the bait that is his mind whenever he tries to remember anything. Those fangs sink into the most sensitive spot and he winces from being submerged in shocking pain for minutes at a time.

Where is he? He doesn't know.

The room he's in is dull and damp with no source of light whatsoever. He's bleakly staring into darkness wondering why he's strapped to a wooden chair with uncomfortable twine. He fusses with it but ends up going nowhere. His skin prickles from the cold and his shoulders sag with muscle strain.

His head remains bowed because he feels like it's too heavy. He has stains he can't explain down his white shirt, some crusty and brown while others are red. It could be blood from his bust lip and the missing tooth in the left corner of his mouth, the root of the pain he can't feel but knows it's there.

With one cheek blue and one eye swollen shut, Louis wishes more than ever for pain relief. His abdoment stings like a bitch like someone rammed a car door into it over and over again. 

He's alone in this cold, empty room and he's terrified.

**_[A/N: Any guesses? ;) - S xx]_ **


	5. HIATUS.

I'm so sorry, my loves. I simply cannot find the inspiration to complete this story before I go back to school and it will therefore be going on hiatus with me. Should I fix that problem then I will definitely finish it. Please understand that I've been a bit........all over the place recently and can hardly focus on one thing without derailing. It was so wrong of me to start this without express intent to wrap it up in its allocated time. Forgive me.

My new story is Demon On My Tongue and it is due to last no more than a dozen chapters, I'm sure of it. Impulse will be ending very soon and Babe has one chapter to go.

Once again, I'm sorry. I love you all.

\- S xx


End file.
